As horrible as the news is, we must recognize that abusing the vulnerable is systemic to our whole society. Governments, militaries, and corporations all abuse the vulnerable and rationalize it away afterwards. They just do it differently.

Priests molest and rape children, militaries murder them, chemical companies give them cancer, pharmaceutical companies bankrupt families to cure them, banks let them live on the street, while governments turn a blind eye to it all in order to win the next election.

The impossible part to understand, the part that is the measure our maturity, is that we are all guilty. We are all complicit in this cycle of behavior. It is in the very roots of our society that values material rewards over peaceful community and companionship.

Thus, we can either engage and support the Catholic Church, and those of that faith, as they lead the way in learning how to change the very foundations of a broken culture. … Or, we can work ourselves into a frenzy and nail the church to a cross and naively act like that blood sacrifice will solve all problems.